Wales take on New Zealand on Sunday in Pool A at the Waitakere Stadium; head coach Ioan Cunningham retains the backline that faced Scotland in their tournament opener but changes four in the pack; New Zealand make a whole host of changes following their 41-17 result against Australia
Friday 14 October 2022 11:11, UK
Siwan Lillicrap returns to Wales' starting line-up to lead Wales against tournament hosts New Zealand at the Rugby World Cup on Sunday.
Lillicrap's return is one of four changes made by Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham for the contest.
Alongside the captain, Bethan Lewis, Gwen Crabb and Kelsey Jones all come into the forward pack. Hannah Jones takes the role of vice-captain.
After missing Wales' warm-up matches, Kerin Lake is named on the bench following her return to fitness.
In their opening match, Wales beat Scotland 18-15 after replacement scrum-half Keira Bevan won the match with a nerveless kick in the 86th minute.
The last-minute victory was blighted by the loss of flanker Alisha Butchers to a significant knee injury, and she has since returned home from New Zealand.
Cunningham has opted to deploy an unchanged backline to face New Zealand and explained more about his match-day selections.
"You've got to keep some momentum and consistency. I thought Meg Webb did extremely well on Sunday, she deserves another opportunity as do the rest of the backs," the head coach said.
"We wanted to bring the experience of our captain in at lock. Unfortunately, we have lost Alisha (Butchers) so we wanted to utilise Gwen Crabb's extra strength at six.
"Bethan Lewis has been pushing Alex Callender in training and deserves a start. Carys Phillips has picked up a slight ankle injury so it's a chance for Kelsey to take her opportunity in the starting line-up and for Kat (Evans) to come onto the bench."
Wales and New Zealand, the second ranked team in the world, have met each other four times previously, with every meeting occurring on the Rugby World Cup stage. The most-recent contest was at the 2017 Rugby World Cup and the Black Ferns won 44-12.
Cunningham has implored his Wales players to seize the opportunity of taking on the competition hosts with both hands
"It's a great opportunity to express ourselves. We're playing New Zealand in their home World Cup, we're both on the back of wins, so it's all about this game now," Cunningham said.
"We have nothing to lose but you have to be brave against any New Zealand team, you have to go for it and score tries. We can't hold back, we have to go for it. Australia showed you can create opportunities and we need to do that too."
In their opening game of the tournament, New Zealand came back from a 17-0 deficit against their local rivals. The Black Ferns went on to prevail 41-17 at Eden Park.
New Zealand head coach Wayne Smith has made wholesale changes to their starting line-up with five players set to make their Rugby World Cup debuts against Wales.
A new-look front-row will see Awhina Tangen-Wainohu gain her first start and Tanya Kalounivale return from injury. Hooker Georgia Ponsonby is promoted into the starting jersey after being on the bench against Australia.
Flanker Alana Bremner makes a return from injury and will be joined by Kendra Reynolds and Charmaine McMenamin in the back-row.
Ruby Tui will don the 15 jersey for the first time and Ruahei Demant will lead the home side as captain from fly-half.
Ayesha Leti-I'iga and Kennedy Simon are unavailable due to injury.
Wales: 15 Kayleigh Powell, 14 Jasmine Joyce, 13 Megan Webb, 12 Hannah Jones (vice-captain), 11 Lisa Neumann, 10 Elinor Snowsill, 9 Ffion Lewis, 1 Cara Hope, 2 Kelsey Jones, 3 Donna Rose, 4 Natalia John, 5 Siwan Lillicrap (captain), 6 Gwen Crabb, 7 Bethan Lewis, 8 Sioned Harries
Replacements: 16 Kat Evans, 17 Caryl Thomas, 18 Sisilia Tuipulotu, 19 Abbie Fleming, 20 Alex Callender, 21 Keira Bevan, 22 Robyn Wilkins, 23 Kerin Lake
New Zealand: 15 Ruby Tui, 14 Renee Wickliffe, 13 Logo-I-Pulotu Lemapu Atai'i (Sylvia) Brunt, 12 Theresa Fitzpatrick, 11 Portia Woodman, 10 Ruahei Demant (captain), 9 Ariana Bayler, 1 Awhina Tangen-Wainohu, 2 Georgia Ponsonby, 3 Tanya Kalounivale, 4 Maiakawanakaulani Roos, 5 Chelsea Bremner, 6 Alana Bremner, 7 Kendra Reynolds, 8 Charmaine McMenamin
Replacements: 16 Luka Connor, 17 Krystal Murray, 18 Santo Taumata, 19 Joanah Ngan-Woo, 20 Sarah Hirini, 21 Kendra Cocksedge, 22 Amy du Plessis, 23 Hazel Tubic
